Voices of Search Podcast Summary

Episode: Game Plan For Maintaining Visibility With AI-Powered Shopping Assistants
Host: Jordan Cooney
Guest: Chris Andrew, Co-founder and CEO at Scrunch AI
Release Date: April 26, 2025

Introduction

In this enlightening episode of the Voices of Search podcast, host Jordan Cooney engages in a compelling conversation with Chris Andrew, the Co-founder and CEO of Scrunch AI. The discussion centers around developing strategies to maintain and enhance online visibility as consumers increasingly turn to AI-powered shopping assistants for their purchasing needs. Chris shares his expertise on navigating the evolving landscape of SEO in the age of generative AI.

Guest Introduction

Jordan Cooney welcomes Chris Andrew, highlighting his role at Scrunch AI—a company dedicated to helping businesses optimize their presence across generative AI platforms. Chris's insights are particularly valuable for e-commerce leaders aiming to stay ahead in a market where AI is reshaping consumer behavior and search dynamics.

Core Strategies for Maintaining Visibility with AI Assistants

1. Monitoring AI Interactions with Your Website (00:42 - 01:10)

Chris emphasizes the importance of proactive monitoring as the foundation of any strategy. He suggests starting immediately to understand how AI platforms like Perplexity, GPT, and Gemini interact with your website.

Chris Andrew (01:10): "My foundation would be my monitoring that I'd start today. I would start to deeply understand what is the experience when Perplexity GPT Gemini Others are landing on my page."

By closely observing these interactions, businesses can gain valuable insights into how AI assistants retrieve and present information to consumers.

2. Understanding the Agent Experience (01:10 - 02:00)

Moving beyond traditional crawlers, Chris explains the shift towards AI agents that perform tasks on behalf of users. He uses the example of the OpenAI operator to illustrate how these agents navigate websites to complete actions like searching, buying products, or updating information.

Chris Andrew (01:50): "We're ultimately moving into a world where agents are actually going to act on our behalf... You're watching a customer journey unfolding."

Understanding this agent experience is crucial for ensuring that AI can effectively interact with your website to facilitate user actions.

3. Testing Key User Scenarios with AI (02:00 - 02:50)

Chris advocates for hands-on testing by using premium versions of AI tools like ChatGPT to simulate user interactions. He recommends presenting specific scenarios to executive teams to evaluate whether both humans and AI agents can successfully complete essential tasks on the website.

Chris Andrew (02:30): "If I were an E-commerce leader, I would go sit in front of my executive team with the five scenarios that I want to make sure my consumers can get through today."

This approach helps identify potential obstacles that hinder both human and AI interactions, allowing businesses to address them proactively.

4. Simplifying Website Experience for Better Interactions (02:50 - 03:30)

Acknowledging that humans already struggle with navigating complex websites—succeeding in less than 70% of tasks—Chris highlights the need to design more straightforward and outcome-driven website experiences. Simplification not only aids human users but also enhances AI agent efficiency.

Chris Andrew (03:10): "If that's us as humans, how much more successful or less successful is an agent and start to design for more simplistic experiences driving for the outcome."

Simplifying navigation and reducing friction points can significantly improve both user and AI interactions, leading to higher conversion rates.

5. Facilitating Transactions via AI Searches (03:30 - 04:00)

For e-commerce platforms, Chris underscores the importance of ensuring that AI assistants can easily facilitate transactions. This includes enabling seamless purchasing processes and efficient handling of tasks like updating shipping information.

Chris Andrew (03:45): "If someone’s searching on GPT, Perplexity, et cetera, is my brand showing up with a simple ability to buy."

Ensuring that AI can guide consumers smoothly through the purchasing journey is paramount for maintaining visibility and competitiveness.

6. Exploring Paid AI Advertising Opportunities (04:00 - 04:14)

Chris also touches on the potential of paid advertising within AI platforms. He mentions Perplexity Ads as a frontrunner in experimenting with new ad formats, allowing businesses to influence the future of paid search by allocating portions of their budget to these emerging ecosystems.

Chris Andrew (04:10): "They’re very forthcoming about that. But what an awesome way to get in and influence the future of paid search by experimenting with a portion of your budget to see what's happening in that ecosystem and to get ahead of it."

Engaging with these new advertising avenues can provide early advantages as AI-driven commerce continues to grow.

Key Insights and Takeaways

1. Proactive Monitoring: Continuously track how AI assistants interact with your website to identify and resolve issues that may impede visibility and user experience.

2. Agent Experience: Understand the actions AI agents perform on your site, ensuring they can complete essential tasks seamlessly.

3. Scenario Testing: Regularly test key user journeys both as a human and as an AI agent to ensure consistency and reliability in task completion.

4. Simplify User Interfaces: Design your website to be intuitive and straightforward, reducing complexity to benefit both human users and AI interactions.

5. Optimize for Transactions: Ensure that AI platforms can facilitate smooth transactions, enhancing the purchasing experience for consumers.

6. Invest in AI Advertising: Explore and experiment with new advertising formats within AI ecosystems to stay ahead of the curve and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

7. Future-Proofing: Continuously assess and adapt your SEO and marketing strategies to align with the evolving landscape of AI-powered shopping assistants.

Conclusion

Jordan Cooney wraps up the episode by thanking Chris Andrew for his valuable insights. He encourages listeners to connect with Chris through LinkedIn or visit Scrunch AI’s website for more information. The episode underscores the critical need for e-commerce businesses to adapt their SEO and marketing strategies in response to the rising influence of AI-powered shopping assistants. By implementing the strategies discussed, companies can maintain and enhance their online visibility in an increasingly AI-driven marketplace.

Jordan Cooney (04:14): "Until next time, remember, the answers are always in the data."

For more episodes and detailed strategies on SEO and content marketing, subscribe to the Voices of Search podcast on your preferred platform or visit voicesofsearch.com.